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As the world has just learned, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 5-4 yesterday that “for the first time in our Nation’s history, the Court confers a constitutional right to habeas corpus on alien enemies detained abroad by our military forces in the course of an ongoing war.” So summed up Justice Scalia in a stinging dissent in which he was joined by justices Roberts, Thomas, and Alito. Justices Kennedy, Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, made up the majority Breyer.

There is much that can be said about the Boumediene v. Bush decision:

* How the Court was able to review the case, in light of its long-standing practice of waiting until lower federal courts have an opportunity to rule.

* How the majority torturously construed the English and American constitutional history of habeas corpus.
* How the majority dishonestly eviscerated its controlling precedent on habeas corpus.
* How habeas corpus was never intended to apply, and never did apply, to unlawful enemy combatants captured outside the United States.
* How the processes established by the political branches—Congress and the President—for handling unlawful enemy combatants more than satisfied the Constitution.
* How the majority was able to invalidate the Detainee Treatment Act.
* How the decision will severely compromise the military’s effectiveness in fighting terrorism.

* How the judicial usurpation of presidential war-powers has now become nearly complete.
* How this contra-constitutional coup has been engineered by a razor thin 5-justice majority of the Court, three of them having been appointed by Republican presidents (Stevens: Ford, Kennedy: Reagan, Souter: Bush I) and the other two by Republican bandwagoneers in the Senate (Ginsburg and Breyer).

All this and more—important as it is to our Constitution, our Nation, and our national security—will be discussed at length in the days to come, as Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in Boumediene receives the scrutiny and obloquy that it deserves. But those discussions will have to wait, because in this election year there is a more fundamental aspect of the decision that needs to be considered.

In his dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Roberts said this about the now-unconstitutional Detainee Treatment Act (“DTA”):

"The majority rests its decision on abstract and hypothetical concerns. Step back and consider what, in the real world, Congress and the Executive have actually granted aliens captured by our Armed Forces overseas and found to be enemy combatants:

· The right to hear the bases of the charges against them, including a summary of any classified evidence.

The president was pissed about having to eat a very large turd sandwich yesterday.

I don’t feel the decision was correct, in fact I think virtually all of these terrorists should be executed, once tapped for information, but that's the way it goes. Sometimes the law gets in the way.

At Coretta Scott King's funeral in early 2006, Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert Kennedy, leaned over to him and whispered, "The torch is being passed to you." "A chill went up my spine," Obama told an aide. (Newsweek)

This will go down in history as one of the worst decisions ever made by the SCOTUS.

Maybe.

What disturbs me more about this - is that this was a military operation. Strictly and confidentially. The press, in general, should be strung up by its collective heals for the American public being made aware of the existence of these rodents on a military reserve. That’s not our business - just like the military trials, of their own, when they screw up.

What did we, as Americans, gain by this knowledge?

At Coretta Scott King's funeral in early 2006, Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert Kennedy, leaned over to him and whispered, "The torch is being passed to you." "A chill went up my spine," Obama told an aide. (Newsweek)

This does not give me a warm fuzzy about the pending DC firearms decision.

I think the absolute best we can expect from Heller is the law in DC is overturned and the right to bear arms is declared an individual right. I suspect that even in doing that the SCOTUS will put in some goddamn weasel words like "reasonable regulation" is allowed. I don't think they have the guts to do the right thing with respect to the Second Amendment.

Don't ever trust the government. They are not our friends and they are not here to help us.

The military will turn on us in a second if ordered to.

The police will turn on us in a second if ordered to.

The legislatures will take our money from us and pass laws to take away our rights.

The courts will make decisions based upon emotion rather than the Constitution.

We have lost the Republic and the Constitution. We need to restore both but we all are too weak to do it.

I think the absolute best we can expect from Heller is the law in DC is overturned and the right to bear arms is declared an individual right. I suspect that even in doing that the SCOTUS will put in some goddamn weasel words like "reasonable regulation" is allowed. I don't think they have the guts to do the right thing with respect to the Second Amendment.

Don't ever trust the government. They are not our friends and they are not here to help us.

The military will turn on us in a second if ordered to.

The police will turn on us in a second if ordered to.

The legislatures will take our money from us and pass laws to take away our rights.

The courts will make decisions based upon emotion rather than the Constitution.

We have lost the Republic and the Constitution. We need to restore both but we all are too weak to do it.

Not necessarily true. ALL of the military may have a problem with shooting at us. We are, after all, their fathers, brothers, sister, and mothers. The means to restore the Republic may not require violence on our part. But it probably will. The last several Presidents have all acted like kings while the Congress critters act like lords. They won't give up that power easily.

When I was a kid, we were the United States of America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Now, we're America, Land of the Sheep and Home of the Naïve.

Live each day as if you're going to die tomorrow. Learn each day as if you'll live forever.

This will go down in history as one of the worst decisions ever made by the SCOTUS.

Do you think this decision is even remotely a step toward reestablishing Habeus corpus and ending the Patriot act?.........I initially was onboard when this was implemented, but after 8 years of learing what it's been used for, I am not longer keen on that piece of legislation or the Military commissions act. Some seem to think the same way.

I also was not fully aware of the scope of the Habeus Corpus in the constituion. I personally don't think these conditions apply to American's to suspend it.

Article 1 section 9: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound - Unknown

True. So what you do is give the school staff the power to stop whatever happens. If it's verbal teasing, you give them the power to tell the kids to stop it. If it's rock throwing, you give them the...